SYDNEY (REUTERS) - The Australian search authorities said on Monday that they had been advised about objects spotted by Chinese aircraft hunting for any sign of a missing Malaysia Airlines plane and would try to locate them in the remote southern Indian Ocean.

The official Chinese news agency Xinhua earlier reported that the crew of an IL-76 aircraft had spotted two "relatively big" floating objects and several smaller white ones dispersed over several kilometres.

The larger objects were "white and square", it added.

China has diverted its icebreaker ship, Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, towards the location where the debris was spotted.

"AMSA advised about reported objects sighted by Chinese aircraft. Reported objects in today's search area. Attempts will be made to relocate," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said on its Twitter feed.

AMSA is coordinating the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board.